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 Presidential election results map.Red denotes states won by Nixon/Agnew,blue denotes those won by Humphrey/Muskie, andorange denotes those won by Wallace/LeMay, including aNorth Carolina faithless elector. Numbers indicateelectoral votes cast by each state and the District of Columbia. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 1968. TheRepublican ticket of former Vice PresidentRichard Nixon and Maryland governorSpiro Agnew defeated theDemocratic ticket of incumbent Vice PresidentHubert Humphrey and SenatorEdmund Muskie and theAmerican Independent Party ticket of former Alabama governorGeorge Wallace and generalCurtis LeMay. The election cycle was tumultuous and chaotic, and is often characterized as one of the most violent in American history. It was marked by theassassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in early April and the subsequent54 days of riots across the US; theassassination of Robert F. Kennedy in early June; andwidespread opposition to theVietnam War across university campuses as well asat the Democratic National Convention, which saw police crackdowns on protesters, reporters, and bystanders.
Incumbent presidentLyndon B. Johnson was the early frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, butwithdrew from the race after only narrowly winning theNew Hampshire primary. Humphrey,Eugene McCarthy, andRobert F. Kennedy emerged as the three major candidates in theDemocratic primaries until Kennedy was assassinated. Humphrey, who supported the Vietnam War, defeated the anti-war McCarthy to win the Democratic nomination, sparking protests. Humphrey's promise to continue the Johnson administration'swar on poverty and support for thecivil rights movement eroded his support in the South, prompting a third-party run by Wallace that campaigned forracial segregation on the basis of "states' rights." Wallace attractedsocially conservative voters throughout the South (includingSouthern Democrats and formerBarry Goldwater supporters), as well as white working-class voters in the North and Midwest through his economic populism and anti-establishment rhetoric.
Nixon, who narrowly lost in1960 toJohn F. Kennedy, entered theRepublican primaries as the frontrunner, defeating liberal New York governorNelson Rockefeller, conservative California governorRonald Reagan, and other candidates to win the nomination. Nixon took advantage of Democratic infighting and mounted a campaign that promised to restore "law and order" to US cities and provide new leadership in the Vietnam War. He aimed at attracting a "silent majority" who were alienated by Humphrey'sliberal agenda and Wallace'sultraconservatism; he also pursued aSouthern strategy and employed coded language in the Upper South, where the electorate was less extreme on segregation. Humphrey trailed Nixon by wide margins in polls for most of the campaign, but managed to narrow Nixon's lead in October, after Wallace's candidacy collapsed and Johnson suspendedbombing in the Vietnam War to appease theanti-war movement; the election was considered a tossup by election day.
Nixon managed to secure a close victory in thepopular vote, with just over 500,000 votes (0.7%) separating him and Humphrey. In theElectoral College, Nixon's victory was larger; he carried the tipping point state ofOhio by over 90,000 votes (2.3%), and his overall margin of victory in the Electoral College was 110 votes. Wallace remains the most recent third-party candidate (as of 2024) to carry any state in a presidential election. This was the first presidential election after the passage of theVoting Rights Act of 1965, which began restoring voting rights to Black Americans in the South, who had beendisenfranchised for decades underJim Crow.[4] The 1968 election is often considered a majorrealigning election, as it permanently disrupted the DemocraticNew Deal Coalition that had dominated presidential politics since1932. It was the last presidential election until2024 in which the incumbent president was eligible to run again but was not the eventual nominee of their party. Nixon also became the first non-incumbent vice president to be elected president, something that would not happen again until2020.[5]
In the1964 U.S. presidential election, incumbentDemocratic PresidentLyndon B. Johnson won the largest popular vote landslide inU.S. presidential election history overRepublican SenatorBarry Goldwater. During the presidential term that followed, Johnson was able to achieve many political successes, including passage of hisGreat Society domestic programs (including "war on poverty" legislation), landmarkcivil rights legislation, and the continued exploration of space. Despite these significant achievements, Johnson's popular support would be short-lived. Even as Johnson scored legislative victories, the country endured large-scale race riots in the streets of its larger cities, along with a generational revolt of young people and violent debates over foreign policy. The emergence of thehippiecounter-culture, the rise ofNew Left activism, and the emergence of theBlack Power movement exacerbated social and cultural clashes between classes, generations, and races. Adding to the national crisis, on April 4, 1968,civil rights movement leaderMartin Luther King Jr. wasassassinated inMemphis, Tennessee, ignitingriots of grief and anger across the country. InWashington, D.C., rioting took place within a few blocks of the White House, and the government stationed soldiers with machine guns on the Capitol steps to protect it.[6][7]
TheVietnam War was the primary reason for the precipitous decline of President Johnson's popularity. He had escalated U.S. commitment so by late 1967 over 500,000 American soldiers were fighting in Vietnam. Draftees made up 42 percent of the military in Vietnam, but suffered 58% of the casualties, as nearly 1000 Americans a month were killed, and many more were injured.[8] Resistance to the war rose as success seemed ever out of reach. The nationalnews media began to focus on the high costs and ambiguous results of escalation, despite Johnson's repeated efforts to downplay the seriousness of the situation. In early January 1968,Secretary of DefenseRobert McNamara said the war would be winding down, claiming that the North Vietnamese were losing their will to fight. Shortly thereafter, the North Vietnamese launched theTet Offensive, in which they and Communist forces ofVietcong undertook simultaneous attacks on all government strongholds across South Vietnam. Although the uprising ended in a U.S. military victory, the scale of the Tet offensive led many Americans to question whether the war could be won, or was worth the costs to the United States. In addition, voters began to mistrust the government's assessment and reporting of the war effort. The Pentagon called for sending several hundred thousand more soldiers to Vietnam, while Johnson's approval ratings fell below 35%. TheSecret Service refused to let the president visit American colleges and universities, and prevented him from appearing at the1968 Democratic National Convention inChicago, because it could not guarantee his safety.[9]
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U.S. Representative from California U.S. Senator from California 36th Vice President of the United States Post-vice presidency 37th President of the United States
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| Richard Nixon | Spiro Agnew | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 36th Vice President of the United States (1953–1961) | 55th Governor of Maryland (1967–1969) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The following candidates were frequently interviewed by major broadcast networks, were listed in publicly published national polls, or ran a campaign that extended beyond their flying home delegation in the case offavorite sons.
Nixon received1,679,443 votes in the primaries.
| Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal from the nomination race | |||
| Ronald Reagan | Nelson Rockefeller | Harold Stassen | George W. Romney |
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| Governor ofCalifornia (1967–1975) | Governor ofNew York (1959–1973) | Former president of theUniversity of Pennsylvania (1948–1953) | Governor ofMichigan (1963–1969) |
| Campaign | Campaign | Campaign | |
| Lost nomination: August 8, 1968 1,696,632 votes | Lost nomination: August 8, 1968 164,340 votes | Lost nomination: August 8, 1968 31,665 votes | Withdrew: February 28, 1968 4,447 votes |
Thefront-runner for the Republican nomination was former Vice President Richard Nixon, who formally began campaigning in January 1968.[10] Nixon had worked behind the scenes and was instrumental in Republican gains in Congress and governorships in the 1966 midterm elections. Thus, the party machinery and many of the new congressmen and governors supported him. Still, there was caution in the Republican ranks over Nixon, who had lost the1960 election toJohn F. Kennedy and then lost the1962 California gubernatorial election. Some hoped a more "electable" candidate would emerge. The story of the 1968 Republican primary campaign and nomination may be seen as one Nixon opponent after another entering the race and then dropping out. Nixon was the front runner throughout the contest because of his superior organization, and he easily defeated the rest of the field.
Nixon's first challenger was Michigan GovernorGeorge W. Romney. A Gallup poll in mid-1967 showed Nixon with 39%, followed by Romney with 25%. After a fact-finding trip to Vietnam, Romney told Detroit talk show hostLou Gordon that he had been "brainwashed" by the military and the diplomatic corps into supporting the Vietnam War; the remark led to weeks of ridicule in the national news media. Turning against American involvement in Vietnam, Romney planned to run as the anti-war Republican version ofEugene McCarthy.[11] Following his "brainwashing" comment, Romney's support faded steadily; with polls showing him far behind Nixon, he withdrew from the race on February 28, 1968.[12] SenatorCharles Percy was considered another potential threat to Nixon, and had planned on waging an active campaign after securing a role as Illinois's favorite son. Later, however, Percy declined to have his name listed on the ballot for the Illinois presidential primary, as he no longer sought the presidential nomination.[13]
Nixon won a resounding victory in the important New Hampshire primary on March 12, with 78% of the vote. Anti-war Republicans wrote in the name of New York governorNelson Rockefeller, thede facto leader of theRepublican Party's liberal wing, who received 11% of the vote and became Nixon's new challenger. Rockefeller had not originally intended to run, having discounted a campaign for the nomination in 1965, and planned to make U.S. SenatorJacob Javits, thefavorite son, either in preparation of a presidential campaign or to secure him the second spot on the ticket. As Rockefeller warmed to the idea of entering the race, Javits shifted his effort to seeking a third term in the Senate.[14] Nixon led Rockefeller in the polls throughout the primary campaign—though Rockefeller defeated Nixon andGovernorJohn Volpe in theMassachusetts primary on April 30, he otherwise fared poorly in state primaries and conventions. He had declared too late to get his name placed on state primary ballots.
By early spring, California GovernorRonald Reagan, a leader of the Republican Party's conservative wing, had become Nixon's chief rival. In the Nebraska primary on May 14, Nixon won with 70% of the vote to 21% for Reagan and 5% for Rockefeller. While this was a wide margin for Nixon, Reagan remained Nixon's leading challenger. Nixon won the next primary of importance, Oregon, on May 15 with 65% of the vote, and won all the following primaries except for California (June 4), where only Reagan appeared on the ballot. Reagan's victory in California gave him a plurality of the nationwide primary vote, but his poor showing in most other state primaries left him far behind Nixon in the delegate count.
Total popular vote:[clarification needed]
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As the 1968 Republican National Convention opened on August 5 inMiami Beach, Florida, theAssociated Press estimated that Nixon had 656 delegate votes – 11 short of the number he needed to win the nomination. Reagan and Rockefeller were his only remaining opponents and they planned to unite their forces in a "stop-Nixon" movement. Because Goldwater had done well in theDeep South, delegates to the1968 Republican National Convention included more Southern conservatives than in past conventions. There seemed potential for the conservative Reagan to be nominated if no victor emerged on the first ballot. Nixon narrowly secured the nomination on the first ballot, with the aid of South Carolina SenatorStrom Thurmond, who had switched parties in 1964.[15][page needed] He selecteddark horse Maryland GovernorSpiro Agnew as his running mate, a choice which Nixon believed would unite the party, appealing to both Northern moderates and Southerners disaffected with the Democrats.[16] Nixon's first choice for running mate was reportedly his longtime friend and allyRobert Finch, who was theLieutenant Governor of California at the time. Finch declined that offer, but later accepted an appointment as theSecretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in Nixon's administration. With Vietnam a key issue, Nixon had strongly considered tapping his 1960 running mate,Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a former U.S. senator, ambassador to the UN, and ambassador twice toSouth Vietnam.
| President | (before switches) | (after switches) | Vice President | Vice-presidential votes |
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| Richard Nixon | 692 | 1238 | Spiro Agnew | 1119 |
| Nelson Rockefeller | 277 | 93 | George W. Romney | 186 |
| Ronald Reagan | 182 | 2 | John V. Lindsay | 10 |
| Ohio governorJames A. Rhodes | 55 | — | Massachusetts senatorEdward Brooke | 1 |
| Michigan governorGeorge W. Romney | 50 | — | James A. Rhodes | 1 |
| New Jersey senatorClifford Case | 22 | — | not voting | 16 |
| Kansas senatorFrank Carlson | 20 | — | — | |
| Arkansas governorWinthrop Rockefeller | 18 | — | — | |
| Hawaii senatorHiram Fong | 14 | — | — | |
| Harold Stassen | 2 | — | — | |
| New York City mayorJohn V. Lindsay | 1 | — | — |
As of the 2020 presidential election, 1968 was the last time that two siblings (Nelson and Winthrop Rockefeller) ran against each other in apresidential primary.
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| Hubert Humphrey | Edmund Muskie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 38th Vice President of the United States (1965–1969) | U.S. Senator fromMaine (1959–1980) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The following candidates were frequently interviewed by major broadcast networks, were listed in publicly published national polls, or ran a campaign that extended beyond their home delegation in the case offavorite sons. Humphrey received 166,463 votes in the primaries.
| Candidates in this section are sorted by date of withdrawal from the nomination race | ||||||||
| Eugene McCarthy | George McGovern | Channing E. Phillips | Lester Maddox | Robert F. Kennedy | Lyndon B. Johnson | |||
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| U.S. senator fromMinnesota (1959–1971) | U.S. senator fromSouth Dakota (1963–1981) | Reverend atLincoln Temple fromWashington, D.C. | Governor ofGeorgia (1967–1971) | U.S. senator fromNew York (1965–1968) | 36th President of the United States (1963–1969) | |||
| Campaign | Campaign | Campaign | Campaign | Campaign | ||||
| Lost nomination: August 29, 1968 2,914,933 votes | Lost nomination: August 29, 1968 0 votes | Lost nomination: August 29, 1968 0 votes | Withdrew and endorsed George Wallace: August 28, 1968 0 votes | Assassinated: June 5, 1968 2,305,148 votes | Withdrew and endorsed Hubert Humphrey: March 31, 1968 383,590 votes | |||
Because Lyndon B. Johnson had been elected to the presidency only once, in 1964, and had served less than two full years of the term before that, theTwenty-second Amendment did not disqualify him from running for another term.[18] As a result, it was widely assumed when 1968 began that President Johnson would run for another term, and that he would have little trouble winning the Democratic nomination.
Despite growing opposition to Johnson's policies in Vietnam, it appeared that no prominent Democratic candidate would run against a sitting president of his own party. It was also accepted at the beginning of the year that Johnson's record of domestic accomplishments would overshadow public opposition to the Vietnam War and that he would easily boost his public image after he started campaigning.[19] Even SenatorRobert F. Kennedy from New York, an outspoken critic of Johnson's policies, with a large base of support, publicly declined to run against Johnson in the primaries. Poll numbers also suggested that a large share of Americans who opposed the Vietnam War felt the growth of the anti-warhippie movement among younger Americans and violent unrest on college campuseswas not helping their cause.[19] On January 30, however, claims by the Johnson administration that a recent troop surge would soon bring an end to the war were severely discredited when theTet Offensive broke out. Although the American military was eventually able to fend off the attacks, and also inflict heavy losses among the communist opposition, the ability of the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong to launch large scale attacks during the Tet Offensive's long duration greatly weakened American support for the military draft and further combat operations in Vietnam.[20] A recorded phone conversation which Johnson had with Chicago mayorRichard J. Daley on January 27 revealed that both men had become aware of Kennedy's private intention to enter the Democratic presidential primaries and that Johnson was willing to accept Daley's offer to run as Humphrey's vice presidential running mate if he were to end his re-election campaign.[21] Daley, whose city would host the1968 Democratic National Convention, also preferred either Johnson or Humphrey over any other candidate, and stated that Kennedy had met him the week before, and that he was unsuccessful in his attempt to win over Daley's support.[21]
In time, only SenatorEugene McCarthy from Minnesota proved willing to challenge Johnson openly. Running as an anti-war candidate in theNew Hampshire primary, McCarthy hoped to pressure the Democrats into publicly opposing the Vietnam War. Since New Hampshire was the first presidential primary of 1968, McCarthy poured most of his limited resources into the state. He was boosted by thousands of young college students, led by youth coordinatorSam Brown,[22] who shaved their beards and cut their hair to be "Clean for Gene". These students organized get-out-the-vote drives, rang doorbells, distributed McCarthy buttons and leaflets, and worked hard in New Hampshire for McCarthy. On March 12, McCarthy won 42 percent of the primary vote, to Johnson's 49 percent, a shockingly strong showing against an incumbent president, which was even more impressive because Johnson had more than 24 supporters running for the Democratic National Convention delegate slots to be filled in the election, while McCarthy's campaign organized more strategically. McCarthy won 20 of the 24 delegates. This gave McCarthy's campaign legitimacy and momentum. Sensing Johnson's vulnerability, Senator Robert F. Kennedy announced his candidacy four days after the New Hampshire primary on March 16. Thereafter, McCarthy and Kennedy engaged in a series of state primaries.
On March 31, 1968, following the New Hampshire primary and Kennedy's entry into the election, the president made a televised speech to the nation and said that he was suspending all bombing of North Vietnam in favor of peace talks. After concluding his speech, Johnson announced,
"With America's sons in the fields far away, with America's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties, other than the awesome duties of this office — the presidency of your country. Accordingly,I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."
Not discussed publicly at the time was Johnson's concern that he might not survive another term – Johnson's health was poor, and he had already suffered a seriousheart attack in 1955.[23] He died on January 22, 1973, two days after the end of the new presidential term. Bleak political forecasts also contributed to Johnson's withdrawal; internal polling by Johnson's campaign in Wisconsin, the next state to hold a primary election, showed him trailing badly.[24] This was the second and untilJoe Biden'swithdrawal from the2024 race most recent time an incumbent US president eligible to run withdrew from the presidential election.[25]
Historians have debated why Johnson quit a few days after his weak showing in New Hampshire.Jeff Shesol says Johnson wanted out of the White House, but also wanted vindication; when the indicators turned negative, he decided to leave.[26] Lewis L. Gould says that Johnson had neglected the Democratic party, was hurting it by his Vietnam policies, and under-estimated McCarthy's strength until the last minute, when it was too late for Johnson to recover.[27] Randall Bennett Woods said Johnson realized he needed to leave, for the nation to heal.[28]Robert Dallek writes that Johnson had no further domestic goals, and realized that his personality had eroded his popularity. His health was poor, and he was pre-occupied with the Kennedy campaign; his wife was pressing for his retirement, and his base of support continued to shrink. Leaving the race would allow him to pose as a peace-maker.[29] Anthony J. Bennett, however, said Johnson "had been forced out of a re-election race in 1968 by outrage over his policy in Southeast Asia".[30]
In 2009, an AP reporter said that Johnson decided to end his re-election bid after CBS News anchorWalter Cronkite, who was influential, turned against the president's policy in Vietnam. During a CBS News editorial which aired on February 27, Cronkite recommended the US pursue peace negotiations.[31][32] After watching Cronkite's editorial, Johnson allegedly exclaimed: "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."[31] This quote by Johnson has been disputed for accuracy.[33] Johnson was attending Texas Governor John Connally's birthday gala in Austin, Texas, when Cronkite's editorial aired and did not see the original broadcast.[33] But, Cronkite and CBS News correspondentBob Schieffer defended reports that the remark had been made. They said that members of Johnson's inner circle, who had watched the editorial with the president, including presidential aideGeorge Christian and journalistBill Moyers, later confirmed the accuracy of the quote to them.[34][35] Schieffer, who was a reporter for theStar-Telegram'sWBAP television station in Fort Worth, Texas, when Cronkite's editorial aired, acknowledged reports that the president saw the editorial's original broadcast were inaccurate,[35] but claimed the president was able to watch a taping of it the morning after it aired and then made the remark.[35] However, Johnson's January 27, 1968, phone conversion with Chicago MayorRichard J. Daley revealed that the two were trying to feed Robert Kennedy's ego so he would stay in the race, convincing him that the Democratic Party was undergoing a "revolution".[21] They suggested he might earn a spot as vice president.[21]
After Johnson's withdrawal, the Democratic Party quickly split into four factions.
Since the Vietnam War had become the major issue that was dividing the Democratic Party, and Johnson had come to symbolize the war for many liberal Democrats, Johnson believed that he could not win the nomination without a major struggle, and that he would probably lose the election in November to the Republicans. However, by withdrawing from the race, he could avoid the stigma of defeat, and he could keep control of the party machinery by giving the nomination to Humphrey, who had been a loyal vice president.[36] Milne (2011) argues that, in terms of foreign-policy in the Vietnam War, Johnson at the end wanted Nixon to be president rather than Humphrey, since Johnson agreed with Nixon, rather than Humphrey, on the need to defend South Vietnam from communism.[37] However, Johnson's telephone calls show that Johnson believed the Nixon camp was deliberately sabotaging theParis peace talks. He told Humphrey, who refused to use allegations based on illegal wiretaps of a presidential candidate. Nixon himself called Johnson and denied the allegations. Dallek concludes that Nixon's advice to Saigon made no difference, and that Humphrey was so closely identified with Johnson's unpopular policies that no last-minute deal with Hanoi could have affected the election.[38]
After Johnson's withdrawal,Vice President Hubert Humphrey announced his candidacy. Kennedy was successful in four state primaries (Indiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and California), and McCarthy won six (Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Oregon, New Jersey, and Illinois). However, in primaries where they campaigned directly against one another, Kennedy won four primaries (Indiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and California), and McCarthy won only one (Oregon).[39] Humphrey did not compete in the primaries, leaving that job tofavorite sons who were his surrogates, notablyUnited States SenatorGeorge A. Smathers fromFlorida,United States SenatorStephen M. Young fromOhio, andGovernorRoger D. Branigin ofIndiana. Instead, Humphrey concentrated on winning the delegates in non-primary states, where party leaders such asChicago MayorRichard J. Daley controlled the delegate votes in their states. Kennedy defeated Branigin and McCarthy in the Indiana primary on May 7, and then defeated McCarthy in the Nebraska primary on May 14. However, McCarthy upset Kennedy in the Oregon primary on May 28.
After Kennedy's defeat in Oregon, the California primary was seen as crucial to both Kennedy and McCarthy. McCarthy stumped the state's many colleges and universities, where he was treated as a hero for being the first presidential candidate to oppose the war. Kennedy campaigned in theghettos andbarrios of the state's larger cities, where he was mobbed by enthusiastic supporters. Kennedy and McCarthy engaged in a television debate a few days before the primary; it was generally considered a draw. On June 4, Kennedy narrowly defeated McCarthy in California, 46%–42%. However, McCarthy refused to withdraw from the race, and made it clear that he would contest Kennedy in the upcoming New York primary on June 18, where McCarthy had much support from anti-war activists. In the early morning of June 5, after giving his victory speech in Los Angeles,Kennedy was shot bySirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-oldPalestinian-Jordanian, and died 26 hours later atGood Samaritan Hospital. Sirhan admitted his guilt, was convicted of murder, and is still in prison.[40] In recent years some have cast doubt on Sirhan's guilt, including Sirhan himself, who said he was "brainwashed" into killing Kennedy and was apatsy.[41]
Political historians still debate whether Kennedy could have won the Democratic nomination, had he lived. Some historians, such asTheodore H. White andArthur M. Schlesinger Jr., have argued that Kennedy's broad appeal and famed charisma would have convinced the party bosses at the Democratic Convention to give him the nomination.[42] Jack Newfield, author ofRFK: A Memoir, stated in a 1998 interview that on the night he was assassinated, "[Kennedy] had a phone conversation with Mayor Daley of Chicago, and Mayor Daley all but promised to throw the Illinois delegates to Bobby at the convention in August 1968. I think he said to me, andPete Hamill: 'Daley is the ball game, and I think we have Daley.'"[43] However, other writers such asTom Wicker, who covered the Kennedy campaign forThe New York Times, believe that Humphrey's large lead in delegate votes from non-primary states, combined with Senator McCarthy's refusal to quit the race, would have prevented Kennedy from ever winning a majority at the Democratic Convention, and that Humphrey would have been the Democratic nominee, even if Kennedy had lived.[44] The journalistRichard Reeves and historianMichael Beschloss have both written that Humphrey was the likely nominee,[45] and future Democratic National Committee chairmanLarry O'Brien wrote in his memoirs that Kennedy's chances of winning the nomination had been slim, even after his win in California.[46]
At the moment of RFK's death, the delegate totals were:
Total popular vote:[47]
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Robert Kennedy's death altered the dynamics of the race. Although Humphrey appeared the presumptive favorite for the nomination, thanks to his support from the traditional power blocs of the party, he was an unpopular choice with many of theanti-war elements within the party, who identified him with Johnson's controversial position on the Vietnam War. However, Kennedy's delegates failed to unite behind a single candidate who could have prevented Humphrey from getting the nomination. Some of Kennedy's support went to McCarthy, but many of Kennedy's delegates, remembering their bitter primary battles with McCarthy, refused to vote for him. Instead, these delegates rallied around the late-starting candidacy of SenatorGeorge McGovern of South Dakota, a Kennedy supporter in the spring primaries who had presidential ambitions himself. This division of the anti-war votes at the Democratic Convention made it easier for Humphrey to gather the delegates he needed to win the nomination.
When the1968 Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago, thousands of young activists from around the nation gathered in the city toprotest the Vietnam War. On the evening of August 28, in a clash which was covered on live television, Americans were shocked to see Chicago police brutally beating anti-war protesters in the streets of Chicago in front of the Conrad Hilton Hotel. While the protesters chanted, "The whole world is watching", the police used clubs andtear gas to beat back or arrest the protesters, leaving many of them bloody and dazed. The tear gas wafted into numerous hotel suites; in one of them Vice President Humphrey was watching the proceedings on television. The police said that their actions were justified because numerous police officers were being injured by bottles, rocks, and broken glass that were being thrown at them by the protestors. The protestors had also yelled insults at the police, calling them "pigs" and otherepithets. The anti-war and police riot divided the Democratic Party's base: some supported the protestors and felt that the police were being heavy-handed, but others disapproved of the violence and supported the police. Meanwhile, the convention itself was marred by the strong-arm tactics of Chicago's mayor Richard J. Daley (who was seen on television angrily cursing SenatorAbraham Ribicoff from Connecticut, who made a speech at the convention denouncing the excesses of the Chicago police). In the end, the nomination itself was anticlimactic, with Vice President Humphrey handily beating McCarthy and McGovern on the first ballot.
After the delegates nominated Humphrey, the convention then turned to selecting a vice-presidential nominee. The main candidates for this position were SenatorsEdward M. Kennedy from Massachusetts,Edmund Muskie from Maine, andFred R. Harris from Oklahoma; GovernorsRichard Hughes of New Jersey andTerry Sanford of North Carolina; MayorJoseph Alioto of San Francisco, California; former Deputy Secretary of DefenseCyrus Vance; and AmbassadorSargent Shriver from Maryland. Another idea floated was to tap Republican GovernorNelson Rockefeller of New York, one of the most liberal Republicans. Ted Kennedy was Humphrey's first choice, but the senator turned him down. After narrowing it down to Senator Muskie and Senator Harris, Vice President Humphrey chose Muskie, a moderate andenvironmentalist fromMaine, for the nomination. The convention complied with the request and nominated Senator Muskie as Humphrey's running mate. Notably, Humphrey won votes from actual voters in primaries for his attempt to win the Democrat nomination, unlike Harris who only received delegates.
The publicity from the anti-war riots crippled Humphrey's campaign from the start, and it never fully recovered. Before 1968 the city of Chicago had been a frequent host for the political conventions of both parties; since 1968 only two national conventions have been held there: theDemocratic convention of 1996, which nominatedBill Clinton for a second term, and theDemocratic convention of 2024, which nominatedKamala Harris.[48]
| Presidential tally | Vice Presidential tally | ||
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| Hubert Humphrey | 1759.25 | Edmund S. Muskie | 1942.5 |
| Eugene McCarthy | 601 | Not Voting | 604.25 |
| George S. McGovern | 146.5 | Julian Bond | 48.5 |
| Channing Phillips | 67.5 | David Hoeh | 4 |
| Daniel K. Moore | 17.5 | Edward M. Kennedy | 3.5 |
| Edward M. Kennedy | 12.75 | Eugene McCarthy | 3.0 |
| Paul W. "Bear" Bryant | 1.5 | Others | 16.25 |
| James H. Gray | 0.5 | ||
| George Wallace | 0.5 | ||
Source: Keating Holland, "All the Votes... Really", CNN[49]
Hubert Humphrey
Robert F. Kennedy
Eugene McCarthy
George McGovern (during convention)
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TheAmerican Independent Party, which was established in 1967 byBill and Eileen Shearer, nominated former Alabama GovernorGeorge Wallace – whose pro-racial segregation policies had been rejected by the mainstream of the Democratic Party – as the party's candidate for president. The impact of the Wallace campaign was substantial, winning the electoral votes of several states in theDeep South. He appeared on the ballot in all fifty states, but not the District of Columbia. Although he did not come close to winning any states outside the South, Wallace was the 1968 presidential candidate who most disproportionately drew his support from among young men.[55] Wallace also proved to be popular amongblue-collar workers in the North and Midwest, and he took many votes which might have gone to Humphrey.[56]
Wallace was not expected to win the election; his strategy was to prevent either major party candidate from winning a preliminary majority in theElectoral College. Although Wallace put considerable effort into mounting a serious general election campaign, his presidential bid was also a continuation of Southern efforts to electunpledged electors that had taken place in every election from1956 – he had his electors promise to vote not necessarily for him but rather for whomever he directed them to support – his objective was not to move the election into theU.S. House of Representatives where he would have had little influence, but rather to give himself the bargaining power to determine the winner. Wallace'srunning mate was retired four star GeneralCurtis LeMay.
Prior to deciding on LeMay, Wallace gave serious consideration to former U.S. senator, governor, and Baseball Commissioner A. B.Happy Chandler of Kentucky as his running mate.[57] Chandler and Wallace met a number of times; however, Chandler said that he and Wallace were unable to come to an agreement regarding their positions on racial matters. Chandler had supported the segregationistDixiecrats in the 1948 presidential elections. However, after being re-electedGovernor of Kentucky in 1955, he usedNational Guard troops to enforce school integration.[58] Other considerations includedABC newscasterPaul Harvey of Oklahoma, formerSecretary of AgricultureEzra Taft Benson of Utah, former Governor of ArkansasOrval Faubus, and evenKentucky Fried Chicken founderColonel Sanders.[59]
Wallace's position of withdrawing from Vietnam, if the war was "not winnable within 90 days",[60] was overshadowed by LeMay, implying he would usenuclear weapons to win the war.[61]
Also on the ballot in two or more states were black activistEldridge Cleaver (who was ineligible to take office, as he would have only been 33 years of age on January 20, 1969) for thePeace and Freedom Party;Henning Blomen for theSocialist Labor Party;Fred Halstead for theSocialist Workers Party;E. Harold Munn for theProhibition Party; andCharlene Mitchell – the first African-American woman to run for president, and the first woman to receive valid votes in a general election – for theCommunist Party. ComediansDick Gregory andPat Paulsen were notablewrite-in candidates. A facetious presidential candidate for 1968 was a pig namedPigasus, as a political statement by theYippies, to illustrate their premise that "one pig's as good as any other".[62][page needed]
| Publisher | Date | Prediction |
|---|---|---|
| 1964 result | Nov 3, 1964 | D: 486, R: 52 |
| 1968 result | Nov 5, 1968 | A: 45, D: 191,R: 301 |
| Newsweek | Oct 27, 1968 | A: 56, D: 46,R: 287, Tossup: 149 |
| Associated Press | Oct 20, 1968 | A: 45, D: 17, R: 222, Tossup: 154 |
| N.Y. Times | Oct 6, 1968 | A: 64, D: 28,R: 380, Tossup: 64 |
| The Washington Post | Oct 6, 1968 | A: 53, D: 46,R: 346, Tossup: 93 |
| CBS | Oct 28, 1968 | A: 58, D: 25,R: 270, Tossup: 185 |
| CQ | Oct 25, 1968 | A: 53, D: 32,R: 317, Tossup: 136 |
The following graph depicts the standing of each candidate in the poll aggregators from April 1968 to Election Day.
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Richard Nixon (R) | Hubert Humphrey (D) | George Wallace (AI) | Other | Undecided | Margin | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election Results | November 5, 1968 | 43.42% | 42.72% | 13.53% | 0.33% | - | 0.7 | ||
| Harris[64] | November 1, 1968[f] | 37% | 40% | 16% | - | 7% | 3 | ||
| Gallup[65] | Oct. 29-Nov. 1, 1968 | 42% | 40% | 14% | - | 4% | 2 | ||
| Gallup[65] | October 17–22, 1968 | 44% | 36% | 15% | - | 5% | 8 | ||
| Harris[66] | October 18, 1968[f] | 40% | 35% | 18% | - | 7% | 5 | ||
| Gallup[67] | September 19–24, 1968 | 43% | 28% | 21% | - | 8% | 15 | ||
| Harris[68] | September 23, 1968[f] | 39% | 31% | 21% | - | 9% | 8 | ||
| Gallup[69] | September 1–6, 1968 | 43% | 31% | 19% | - | 7% | 12 | ||
| August 26–29: Democratic National Convention | |||||||||
| Harris[70] | August 27, 1968[f] | 40% | 34% | 17% | - | 9% | 6 | ||
| Gallup[71] | August 7–12, 1968 | 45% | 29% | 18% | - | 8% | 16 | ||
| August 5–8: Republican National Convention | |||||||||
| Harris[72][73][70] | July 31, 1968[f] | 36% | 41% | 16% | - | 7% | 5 | ||
| Crossley[72][74][70] | July 31, 1968[f] | 39% | 36% | 19% | - | 6% | 3 | ||
| Gallup[75] | July 18–23, 1968 | 40% | 38% | 16% | - | 6% | 2 | ||
| Harris[76][70] | July 20, 1968[f] | 35% | 37% | 17% | - | 11% | 2 | ||
| Gallup[77] | Jun. 26-Jul. 1, 1968 | 35% | 40% | 16% | - | 9% | 5 | ||
| Harris[78] | June 24, 1968[f] | 36% | 43% | 13% | - | 8% | 7 | ||
| Gallup[79] | June 13–18, 1968 | 37% | 42% | 14% | - | 7% | 5 | ||
| Gallup[80] | May 23–28, 1968 | 36% | 42% | 14% | - | 8% | 6 | ||
| Harris[81] | May 23, 1968[f] | 37% | 41% | 14% | - | 8% | 4 | ||
| Harris[82] | May 6, 1968[f] | 36% | 38% | 13% | - | 13% | 2 | ||
| Gallup[83] | May 2–5, 1968 | 39% | 36% | 14% | - | 11% | 3 | ||
| Gallup[84] | April 4–9, 1968 | 43% | 34% | 9% | - | 14% | 9 | ||
| Harris[85] | April 6, 1968[f] | 34% | 35% | 12% | - | 19% | 1 | ||
Nixon developed a "Southern strategy" that was designed to appeal to conservative white southerners, who had traditionally voted Democratic, but were opposed to Johnson and Humphrey's support for thecivil rights movement, as well as the rioting that had broken out in most large cities. Wallace, however, won over many of the voters Nixon targeted, effectively splitting that voting bloc. Wallace deliberately targeted many states he had little chance of carrying himself in the hope that by splitting as many votes with Nixon as possible he would give competitive states to Humphrey and, by extension, boost his own chances of denying both opponents an Electoral College majority.[86] Since he was well behind Nixon in the polls as the campaign began, Humphrey opted for a slashing, fighting campaign style. He repeatedly – and unsuccessfully – challenged Nixon to a televised debate, and he often compared his campaign to the successful underdog effort of PresidentHarry Truman, another Democrat who had trailed in the polls, in the 1948 presidential election. Humphrey predicted that he, like Truman, would surprise the experts and win an upset victory.[87]
Nixon campaigned on a theme to restore "law and order",[88] which appealed to many voters angry with the hundreds of violent riots that had taken place across the country in the previous few years. Following the assassination ofMartin Luther King in April 1968, there wasmassive rioting in inner city areas. The police were overwhelmed and President Johnson decided to call out the U.S. Army. Nixon also opposedforced busing to desegregate schools.[89] Proclaiming himself a supporter of civil rights, he recommended education as the solution rather than militancy. During the campaign, Nixon proposed government tax incentives to African Americans for small businesses and home improvements in their existing neighborhoods.[90]
During the campaign, Nixon also used as a theme his opposition to the decisions of Chief JusticeEarl Warren, pledging to "remake the Supreme Court."[91] Many conservatives were critical of Chief Justice Warren for using the Supreme Court to promote liberal policies in the fields ofcivil rights,civil liberties, and theseparation of church and state. Nixon promised that if he were elected president, he would appoint justices who would take a less-active role in creating social policy.[92] In another campaign promise, he pledged to end thedraft.[93] During the 1960s, Nixon had been impressed by a paper he had read by ProfessorMartin Anderson ofColumbia University. Anderson had argued in the paper for an end to the draft and the creation of an all-volunteer army.[94] Nixon also saw ending the draft as an effective way to undermine theanti-Vietnam war movement, since he believed affluent college-age youths would stop protesting the war once their own possibility of having to fight in it was gone.[95]
Humphrey, meanwhile, promised to continue and expand theGreat Society welfare programs started by President Johnson, and to continue the Johnson Administration's "War on poverty". He also promised to continue the efforts of presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and the Supreme Court, in promoting the expansion of civil rights and civil liberties for minority groups. However, Humphrey also felt constrained for most of his campaign in voicing any opposition to the Vietnam War policies of President Johnson, due to his fear that Johnson would reject any peace proposals he made and undermine his campaign. As a result, early in his campaign Humphrey often found himself the target of anti-war protestors, some of whom heckled and disrupted his campaign rallies.
After the Democratic Convention in late August, Humphrey trailed Nixon by double digits in mostpolls, and his chances seemed hopeless, with some polls predicting a margin of victory for Nixon as high as 16% as late as August. Many within Humphrey's campaign saw their real goal as avoiding the potential humiliation of finishing behind Wallace in the Electoral College vote (if not necessarily the popular vote), rather than having any serious chance of defeating Nixon. According toTime magazine, "The old Democratic coalition was disintegrating, with untold numbers of blue-collar workers responding to Wallace's blandishments, Negroes threatening to sit out the election, liberals disaffected over the Vietnam War, the South lost. The war chest was almost empty, and the party's machinery, neglected by Lyndon Johnson, creaked in disrepair."[96] Calling for "the politics of joy", and using the still-powerfullabor unions as his base, Humphrey fought back. To distance himself from Johnson, and to take advantage of the Democratic plurality in voter registration, Humphrey stopped being identified in ads as "Vice President Hubert Humphrey", instead being labelled "Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey".
Humphrey attacked Wallace as a racist bigot who appealed to the darker impulses of Americans. Wallace had been rising in the polls as a result of tailoring his message to audiences outside of his southern strongholds by using anti-establishment rhetoric and attacks on "concentrated wealth", with Wallace's polling numbers peaking at 21% nationally in late September and early October. However, Wallace's momentum went into reverse after he selectedCurtis LeMay as his running mate. Curtis LeMay's suggestion of using tactical nuclear weapons in Vietnam conjured up the worst memories of the1964 Goldwater campaign.[15] Labor unions also undertook a major effort to win back union members who were supporting Wallace, with some substantial success. Polling numbers that had shown Wallace winning almost one-half of union members in the summer of 1968 went increasingly into sharp decline as the election campaign progressed into the fall up to early November election day. As election day approached and Wallace's support in the North, Midwest and West began to wane, Humphrey finally began to climb in the polls.
In October, Humphrey—who was rising sharply in the polls due to the decline of Wallace began to distance himself publicly from the Johnson administration on the Vietnam War, calling for a bombing halt. The key turning point for Humphrey's campaign came when President Johnson officially announced a bombing halt, and even a possible peace deal, the weekend before the election. The "Halloween Peace" gave Humphrey's campaign a badly needed boost. In addition, Senator Eugene McCarthy finally endorsed a vote for Humphrey in late October after previously refusing to do so, and by election day the polls were reporting a dead heat.[97]
The Nixon campaign had anticipated a possible "October surprise", a peace agreement produced by the Paris negotiations; as such an agreement would be a boost to Humphrey, Nixon thwarted any last-minute chances of a "Halloween Peace". Nixon told campaign aide and his futureWhite House Chief of StaffH. R. Haldeman to put a "monkey wrench" into an early end to the war.[98] Johnson was enraged and said that Nixon had "blood on his hands", and thatSenate Minority LeaderEverett Dirksen agreed with Johnson that such action was "treason".[99][100] Defense SecretaryClark Clifford considered the moves an illegal violation of theLogan Act.[101] A former director of the Nixon Library called it a "covert action" which "laid the skulduggery of his presidency".[98]
Bryce Harlow, former Eisenhower White House staff member, claimed to have "a double agent working in the White House... I kept Nixon informed." Harlow and Nixon's futureNational Security Advisor andSecretary of StateHenry Kissinger, who was friendly with both campaigns and guaranteed a job in either a Humphrey or Nixon administration, separately predicted Johnson's "bombing halt": "The word is out that we are making an effort to throw the election to Humphrey. Nixon has been told of it", Democratic senator George Smathers informed Johnson.[102]
Nixon askedAnna Chennault to be his "channel to Mr.Thieu" to advise him to refuse participation in the talks, in what is sometimes described as the "Anna Chennault Affair".[103] Thieu was promised a better deal under a Nixon administration.[104][103] Chennault agreed and periodically reported toJohn Mitchell that Thieu had no intention of attending a peace conference. On November 2, Chennault informedBùi Diễm, the South Vietnamese ambassador: "I have just heard from my boss in Albuquerque who says his boss [Nixon] is going to win. And you tell your boss [Thieu] to hold on a while longer."[105] In 1997, Chennault admitted that, "I was constantly in touch with Nixon and Mitchell".[106] The effort also involved Texas SenatorJohn Tower and Kissinger, who traveled to Paris on behalf of the Nixon campaign.William Bundy stated that Kissinger obtained "no useful inside information" from his trip to Paris, and "almost any experienced Hanoi watcher might have come to the same conclusion". While Kissinger may have "hinted that his advice was based on contacts with the Paris delegation", this sort of "self-promotion ... is at worst a minor and not uncommon practice, quite different from getting and reporting real secrets".[107]
Johnson learned of the Nixon-Chennault effort because theNSA was intercepting communications in Vietnam.[108] In response, Johnson ordered NSA surveillance of Chennault and wire-tapped the South Vietnamese embassy and members of the Nixon campaign.[109] He did not leak the information to the public because he did not want to "shock America" with the revelation,[110] nor reveal that the NSA was intercepting communications in Vietnam.[111] Johnson did make information available to Humphrey, but at this point Humphrey thought he was going to win the election, so he did not reveal the information to the public. Humphrey later regretted this as a mistake.[112] The South Vietnamese government withdrew from peace negotiations, and Nixon publicly offered to go to Saigon to help the negotiations.[113] A promising "peace bump" ended up in "shambles" for the Democratic Party.[111] The claim of sabotage of peace talks between the United States and South Vietnam from Nixon has been disputed by historianLuke Nichter in his 2023 bookThe Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968.[114]
The election on November 5, 1968, proved to be extremely close, and it was not until the following morning that the television news networks were able to declare Nixon the winner. The key states proved to be California, Illinois and Ohio, all of which Nixon won by three percentage points or less. Had Humphrey carried all three of these states, he would have won the election. Had he carried only two of them or just California among them, George Wallace would have succeeded in his aim of preventing an Electoral College majority for any candidate, and the decision would have been given to the House of Representatives, at the time controlled by the Democratic Party. Nixon won the popular vote with a plurality of 512,000 votes, or a victory margin of about one percentage point. In the Electoral College, Nixon's victory was much larger, as he carried 32 states with 301 electoral votes, compared to Humphrey's 13 states and 191 electoral votes and Wallace's five states and 46 electoral votes.[115]
Richard Nixon was able to win the Electoral College, dominating several regions in theWestern United States,Midwest,Upland South, and portions of theNortheast, while winning the popular vote by a relatively small 511,944 votes over Democratic nomineeHubert Humphrey. Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey performed relatively well in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Wallace finished last with five states in theDeep South; he is the most recentthird-party candidate to win any states.[116] This was the first time that the Republican nominee won the popular vote with a margin of under 5 points since1896, something that would not be seen again until2004.
Out of all the states that Nixon had previously carried in 1960, Maine and Washington were the only two states that did not vote for Nixon again in 1968, although Nixon would carry them four years later during his re-election campaign in 1972. He also carried eight states that voted for John F. Kennedy in 1960: Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada and Delaware. This was the last time until 1988 that the state of Washington voted Democratic and until 1992 that Connecticut, Maine, and Michigan voted Democratic in the general election. Nixon was also the last Republican candidate to win a presidential election without carrying Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. This is the first time which the Republican candidate captured the White House without carrying Michigan, Minnesota, Maine and Pennsylvania. He would be the last Republican candidate to carry Minnesota (four years later, in 1972), as of 2024.[116] This is also the first time since 1916 that Minnesota voted for the candidate who did not eventually win.[117]
Remarkably, Nixon won the election despite winning only two of the six states (Arizona andSouth Carolina) won by Republican Barry Goldwater four years earlier. He remains the only presidential candidate to win in spite of defending such a low number of his own party's states. All of the remaining four states carried by Goldwater were carried by Wallace in 1968. They would be won by Nixon in 1972.[115][116] Four of the fives states won by Wallace had voted for Goldwater.[118] Of the 3,130 counties/districts/independent cities making returns, Nixon won in 1,859 (59.39%) while Humphrey carried 693 (22.14%). Wallace was victorious in 578 counties (18.47%), all of which (with one exception ofPemiscot County, Missouri) were located in theSouth.[115] Nixon said that Humphrey left a gracious message congratulating him, noting, "I know exactly how he felt. I know how it feels tolose a close one."[119]
Nixon's victory is often considered arealigning election in American politics. From 1932 to 1964, the Democratic Party was undoubtedly the majority party, winning seven out of nine presidential elections, and their agenda influenced policies undertaken by the RepublicanEisenhower administration. The 1968 election reversed the situation completely. From 1968 until 2004, Republicans won seven out of ten presidential elections, and its policies demonstrably affected those enacted by the DemocraticClinton administration via theThird Way.[120][116]
The election was a seismic event in the long-term realignment in Democratic Party support, especially in the South.[121] Nationwide, the bitter splits over civil rights, the new left, the Vietnam War, and other "culture wars" were slow to heal. Democrats could no longer count on white Southern support for the presidency, as Republicans made major gains in suburban areas and areas filled with Northern migrants.[122] The rural Democratic "courthouse cliques" in the South lost power. While Democrats controlled local and state politics in the South, Republicans usually won the presidential vote. Some estimates suggest that Humphrey won less than ten percent of the white vote in the former Confederacy,[123] although other sources have placed this figure closer to twenty percent.[124][125] Nevertheless, there is little doubt that a majority of Humphreyʼs support in the former Confederacy came from black voters, who were now voting in full force.
From 1968 until 2004, only two Democrats were elected president, both native Southerners –Jimmy Carter of Georgia andBill Clinton of Arkansas, both of whom won several states in the region. Other Democratic presidential candidates since 1968 have performed very poorly in formerconfederate states. Outside ofVirginia, which Carter and Clinton both lost twice but Democrats have won every time since 2008, all other Democratic presidential candidates since 1968 combined have only wonFloridatwice, andNorth Carolina andGeorgia once. The elections in which DemocratsBarack Obama andJoe Biden won these states are also the only other times the party has won the presidency since 1968.[116][126]
Another important result of this election was that it led to several reforms in how the Democratic Party chose its presidential nominees. In 1969, theMcGovern–Fraser Commission adopted a set of rules for the states to follow in selecting convention delegates. These rules reduced the influence of party leaders on the nominating process and provided greater representation for minorities, women, and youth. The reforms led most states to adopt laws requiring primary elections, instead of party leaders, to choose delegates.[127]
After 1968, the only way to win the party's presidential nomination became through the primary process; Humphrey was the last nominee of either major party untilKamala Harris in2024 to win their party's nomination without having directly competed in the primaries. UntilJoe Biden withdrew in 2024, this remained the most recent presidential election in which the incumbent president was not nominated for a presidential term despite being eligible. It is also the last election in which any third-party candidate won an entire state's electoral votes, with Wallace carrying five states.[116]
This is one of two times in American history that a former vice president and an incumbent vice president were major party nominees, after 1800. As of 2024[update], this is the last time that all 50 states and the District of Columbia would vote under a winner-take-all system. Maine would begin allocating its electoral votes by congressional district in1972 and Nebraska would begin doing the same in1992. This was the first time since 1928 that North Carolina voted for a Republican, and the first since 1912 (only the second and final time since 1852) that Maine and Vermont did not support the same party. Similarly, it is the second of two times that Oregon and Washington did not support the same party since 1920 (the other being in 1948). By losing New York, Nixon became the third victorious candidate to lose his home state, which also occurred in 1844, 1916, and 2016. This election and 1916 are the only times a winning presidential and vice-presidential each lost their home state. This is also, as of 2025, the most recent election apart from 2016 (in which both major party nominees were registered in the same state) in which the winner of the electoral college won without winning their home state.
Despite the narrow (0.7%) difference in the popular vote, Humphrey took only 35.5% of the electoral vote. This disparity prompted the introduction of theBayh–Celler amendment in Congress, which would have replaced the Electoral College with a direct election of the presidency. The effort was not successful and the Electoral College is still in force.[128] While winning the popular vote, Nixon did not win a majority of the popular vote; he was the last presidential candidate untilBill Clinton in 1992 to win the popular vote with a plurality, and the last Republican untilDonald Trump in 2024 to do so. Nixon was also the last presidential candidate until Trump in 2024 to successfully make a political comeback by winning an election after losing a previous one.
| Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote | Electoral vote | Running mate | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | Percentage | Vice-presidential candidate | Home state | Electoral vote | ||||
| Richard Nixon | Republican | New York[a] | 31,783,783 | 43.42% | 301 | Spiro Agnew | Maryland | 301 |
| Hubert Humphrey | Democratic | Minnesota | 31,271,839 | 42.72% | 191 | Edmund Muskie | Maine | 191 |
| George Wallace | American Independent | Alabama | 9,901,118 | 13.53% | 46[g] | Curtis LeMay | California[129] | 46[g] |
| Other | 243,259 | 0.33% | — | Other | — | |||
| Total | 73,199,999 | 100% | 538 | 538 | ||||
| Needed to win | 270 | 270 | ||||||
Source (Popular Vote):Leip, David."1968 Presidential Election Results".Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. RetrievedAugust 7, 2005.Source (Electoral Vote):"Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996".National Archives and Records Administration. RetrievedAugust 7, 2005.
| Nixon | 43.42% | |||
| Humphrey | 42.72% | |||
| Wallace | 13.53% | |||
| Others | 0.33% | |||
| Nixon | 55.95% | |||
| Humphrey | 35.50% | |||
| Wallace | 8.55% | |||
Source:[130]
| States/districts won byNixon/Agnew |
| States/districts won byHumphrey/Muskie |
| States/districts won byWallace/LeMay |
| Richard Nixon Republican | Hubert H. Humphrey Democratic | George Wallace American Independent | Margin | Margin swing[h] | State Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | electoral votes | # | % | electoral votes | # | % | electoral votes | # | % | electoral votes | # | % | % | # | |
| Alabama | 10 | 146,923 | 13.99 | - | 196,579 | 18.72 | - | 691,425 | 65.86 | 10 | -494,846 | -47.13 | -83.8% | 1,049,917 | AL |
| Alaska | 3 | 37,600 | 45.28 | 3 | 35,411 | 42.65 | - | 10,024 | 12.07 | - | 2,189 | 2.64 | 34.5% | 83,035 | AK |
| Arizona | 5 | 266,721 | 54.78 | 5 | 170,514 | 35.02 | - | 46,573 | 9.56 | - | 96,207 | 19.76 | 18.8% | 486,936 | AZ |
| Arkansas | 6 | 189,062 | 31.01 | - | 184,901 | 30.33 | - | 235,627 | 38.65 | 6 | -46,565 | -7.64 | 13.1% | 609,590 | AR |
| California | 40 | 3,467,664 | 47.82 | 40 | 3,244,318 | 44.74 | - | 487,270 | 6.72 | - | 223,346 | 3.08 | 21.4% | 7,251,587 | CA |
| Colorado | 6 | 409,345 | 50.46 | 6 | 335,174 | 41.32 | - | 60,813 | 7.50 | - | 74,171 | 9.14 | 32.2% | 811,199 | CO |
| Connecticut | 8 | 556,721 | 44.32 | - | 621,561 | 49.48 | 8 | 76,650 | 6.10 | - | -64,840 | -5.16 | 29.5% | 1,256,232 | CT |
| Delaware | 3 | 96,714 | 45.12 | 3 | 89,194 | 41.61 | - | 28,459 | 13.28 | - | 7,520 | 3.51 | 25.7% | 214,367 | DE |
| D.C. | 3 | 31,012 | 18.18 | - | 139,566 | 81.82 | 3 | - | - | - | -108,554 | -63.64 | 7.4% | 170,578 | DC |
| Florida | 14 | 886,804 | 40.53 | 14 | 676,794 | 30.93 | - | 624,207 | 28.53 | - | 210,010 | 9.60 | 11.9% | 2,187,805 | FL |
| Georgia | 12 | 380,111 | 30.40 | - | 334,440 | 26.75 | - | 535,550 | 42.83 | 12 | -155,439 | -12.43 | -11.9% | 1,250,266 | GA |
| Hawaii | 4 | 91,425 | 38.70 | - | 141,324 | 59.83 | 4 | 3,469 | 1.47 | - | -49,899 | -21.12 | 36.4% | 236,218 | HI |
| Idaho | 4 | 165,369 | 56.79 | 4 | 89,273 | 30.66 | - | 36,541 | 12.55 | - | 76,096 | 26.13 | 28.0% | 291,183 | ID |
| Illinois | 26 | 2,174,774 | 47.08 | 26 | 2,039,814 | 44.15 | - | 390,958 | 8.46 | - | 134,960 | 2.92 | 21.9% | 4,619,749 | IL |
| Indiana | 13 | 1,067,885 | 50.29 | 13 | 806,659 | 37.99 | - | 243,108 | 11.45 | - | 261,226 | 12.30 | 24.7% | 2,123,597 | IN |
| Iowa | 9 | 619,106 | 53.01 | 9 | 476,699 | 40.82 | - | 66,422 | 5.69 | - | 142,407 | 12.19 | 36.2% | 1,167,931 | IA |
| Kansas | 7 | 478,674 | 54.84 | 7 | 302,996 | 34.72 | - | 88,921 | 10.19 | - | 175,678 | 20.13 | 29.2% | 872,783 | KS |
| Kentucky | 9 | 462,411 | 43.79 | 9 | 397,541 | 37.65 | - | 193,098 | 18.29 | - | 64,870 | 6.14 | 34.5% | 1,055,893 | KY |
| Louisiana | 10 | 257,535 | 23.47 | - | 309,615 | 28.21 | - | 530,300 | 48.32 | 10 | -220,685 | -20.11 | -18.4% | 1,097,450 | LA |
| Maine | 4 | 169,254 | 43.07 | - | 217,312 | 55.30 | 4 | 6,370 | 1.62 | - | -48,058 | -12.23 | 25.4% | 392,936 | ME |
| Maryland | 10 | 517,995 | 41.94 | - | 538,310 | 43.59 | 10 | 178,734 | 14.47 | - | -20,315 | -1.64 | 29.3% | 1,235,039 | MD |
| Massachusetts | 14 | 766,844 | 32.89 | - | 1,469,218 | 63.01 | 14 | 87,088 | 3.73 | - | -702,374 | -30.12 | 22.6% | 2,331,752 | MA |
| Michigan | 21 | 1,370,665 | 41.46 | - | 1,593,082 | 48.18 | 21 | 331,968 | 10.04 | - | -222,417 | -6.73 | 26.9% | 3,306,250 | MI |
| Minnesota | 10 | 658,643 | 41.46 | - | 857,738 | 54.00 | 10 | 68,931 | 4.34 | - | -199,095 | -12.53 | 15.2% | 1,588,510 | MN |
| Mississippi | 7 | 88,516 | 13.52 | - | 150,644 | 23.02 | - | 415,349 | 63.46 | 7 | -264,705 | -40.44 | -4.7% | 654,509 | MS |
| Missouri | 12 | 811,932 | 44.87 | 12 | 791,444 | 43.74 | - | 206,126 | 11.39 | - | 20,488 | 1.13 | 29.2% | 1,809,502 | MO |
| Montana | 4 | 138,835 | 50.60 | 4 | 114,117 | 41.59 | - | 20,015 | 7.29 | - | 24,718 | 9.01 | 27.4% | 274,404 | MT |
| Nebraska | 5 | 321,163 | 59.82 | 5 | 170,784 | 31.81 | - | 44,904 | 8.36 | - | 150,379 | 28.01 | 33.2% | 536,851 | NE |
| Nevada | 3 | 73,188 | 47.46 | 3 | 60,598 | 39.29 | - | 20,432 | 13.25 | - | 12,590 | 8.16 | 25.3% | 154,218 | NV |
| New Hampshire | 4 | 154,903 | 52.10 | 4 | 130,589 | 43.93 | - | 11,173 | 3.76 | - | 24,314 | 8.18 | 36.0% | 297,298 | NH |
| New Jersey | 17 | 1,325,467 | 46.10 | 17 | 1,264,206 | 43.97 | - | 262,187 | 9.12 | - | 61,261 | 2.13 | 33.9% | 2,875,395 | NJ |
| New Mexico | 4 | 169,692 | 51.85 | 4 | 130,081 | 39.75 | - | 25,737 | 7.86 | - | 39,611 | 12.10 | 31.1% | 327,281 | NM |
| New York | 43 | 3,007,932 | 44.30 | - | 3,378,470 | 49.76 | 43 | 358,864 | 5.29 | - | -370,538 | -5.46 | 31.8% | 6,790,066 | NY |
| North Carolina | 13 | 627,192 | 39.51 | 12 | 464,113 | 29.24 | - | 496,188 | 31.26 | 1 | 131,004 | 8.25 | 20.6% | 1,587,493 | NC |
| North Dakota | 4 | 138,669 | 55.94 | 4 | 94,769 | 38.23 | - | 14,244 | 5.75 | - | 43,900 | 17.71 | 33.8% | 247,882 | ND |
| Ohio | 26 | 1,791,014 | 45.23 | 26 | 1,700,586 | 42.95 | - | 467,495 | 11.81 | - | 90,428 | 2.28 | 28.2% | 3,959,698 | OH |
| Oklahoma | 8 | 449,697 | 47.68 | 8 | 301,658 | 31.99 | - | 191,731 | 20.33 | - | 148,039 | 15.70 | 27.2% | 943,086 | OK |
| Oregon | 6 | 408,433 | 49.83 | 6 | 358,866 | 43.78 | - | 49,683 | 6.06 | - | 49,567 | 6.05 | 33.8% | 819,622 | OR |
| Pennsylvania | 29 | 2,090,017 | 44.02 | - | 2,259,405 | 47.59 | 29 | 378,582 | 7.97 | - | -169,388 | -3.57 | 26.6% | 4,747,928 | PA |
| Rhode Island | 4 | 122,359 | 31.78 | - | 246,518 | 64.03 | 4 | 15,678 | 4.07 | - | -124,159 | -32.25 | 29.5% | 385,000 | RI |
| South Carolina | 8 | 254,062 | 38.09 | 8 | 197,486 | 29.61 | - | 215,430 | 32.30 | - | 38,632 | 5.79 | -12.0% | 666,982 | SC |
| South Dakota | 4 | 149,841 | 53.27 | 4 | 118,023 | 41.96 | - | 13,400 | 4.76 | - | 31,818 | 11.31 | 22.5% | 281,264 | SD |
| Tennessee | 11 | 472,592 | 37.85 | 11 | 351,233 | 28.13 | - | 424,792 | 34.02 | - | 47,800 | 3.83 | 14.8% | 1,248,617 | TN |
| Texas | 25 | 1,227,844 | 39.87 | - | 1,266,804 | 41.14 | 25 | 584,269 | 18.97 | - | -38,960 | -1.27 | 25.6% | 3,079,406 | TX |
| Utah | 4 | 238,728 | 56.49 | 4 | 156,665 | 37.07 | - | 26,906 | 6.37 | - | 82,063 | 19.42 | 29.1% | 422,568 | UT |
| Vermont | 3 | 85,142 | 52.75 | 3 | 70,255 | 43.53 | - | 5,104 | 3.16 | - | 14,887 | 9.22 | 41.8% | 161,404 | VT |
| Virginia | 12 | 590,319 | 43.36 | 12 | 442,387 | 32.49 | - | 321,833 | 23.64 | - | 147,932 | 10.87 | 18.2% | 1,361,491 | VA |
| Washington | 9 | 588,510 | 45.12 | - | 616,037 | 47.23 | 9 | 96,990 | 7.44 | - | -27,527 | -2.11 | 22.5% | 1,304,281 | WA |
| West Virginia | 7 | 307,555 | 40.78 | - | 374,091 | 49.60 | 7 | 72,560 | 9.62 | - | -66,536 | -8.82 | 27.1% | 754,206 | WV |
| Wisconsin | 12 | 809,997 | 47.89 | 12 | 748,804 | 44.27 | - | 127,835 | 7.56 | - | 61,193 | 3.62 | 28.0% | 1,691,538 | WI |
| Wyoming | 3 | 70,927 | 55.76 | 3 | 45,173 | 35.51 | - | 11,105 | 8.73 | - | 25,754 | 20.25 | 33.4% | 127,205 | WY |
| TOTALS: | 538 | 31,783,783 | 43.42 | 301 | 31,271,839 | 42.72 | 191 | 9,901,118 | 13.53 | 46 | 511,944 | 0.70 | 23.3% | 73,199,998 | US |
States where margin of victory was less than 5 percentage points (223 electoral votes):
|
States where margin of victory was more than 5 percentage points, but less than 10 percentage points (155 electoral votes):
|
Notes: InAlabama, Wallace was the official Democratic Party nominee, while Humphrey ran on the ticket of short-livedNational Democratic Party of Alabama, loyal to him as an official Democratic Party nominee.[131]
InNorth Carolina one Nixon Elector cast his ballot for George Wallace (President) and Curtis LeMay (Vice President).[132]
Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (Republican)
Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (Democratic)
Counties with Highest Percent of Vote (American Independent)
| The 1968 presidential vote by demographic subgroup | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Humphrey | Nixon | Wallace | |
| Gender | |||
| Men | 41 | 43 | 16 |
| Women | 45 | 43 | 12 |
| Age | |||
| Under 30 | 47 | 38 | 15 |
| 30-49 | 44 | 41 | 15 |
| 50 or Older | 41 | 47 | 12 |
| Race | |||
| White | 38 | 47 | 15 |
| Non-White | 85 | 12 | 3 |
| Religion | |||
| Protestant | 35 | 49 | 16 |
| Catholic | 59 | 33 | 8 |
| Education | |||
| College | 42 | 54 | 9 |
| High School | 42 | 43 | 15 |
| Grade School | 52 | 33 | 15 |
| Occupation | |||
| Business | 34 | 56 | 10 |
| White Collar | 41 | 47 | 12 |
| Manual | 50 | 35 | 15 |
| Farmer | 29 | 51 | 20 |
| Party ID | |||
| Republican | 9 | 85 | 5 |
| Democrat | 74 | 12 | 14 |
| Independent | 31 | 44 | 25 |
| Region | |||
| East | 50 | 43 | 7 |
| Midwest | 44 | 47 | 9 |
| South | 31 | 36 | 33 |
| West | 44 | 49 | 7 |
| Union Status | |||
| Union Family | 56 | 29 | 15 |
| NBC sample precincts 1968 election | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| % Humphrey | % Nixon | % Wallace | |
| High income urban | 32 | 63 | 5 |
| Middle income urban | 43 | 44 | 13 |
| Low income urban | 69 | 19 | 12 |
| Rural (all income) | 33 | 46 | 21 |
| African-American neighborhoods | 94 | 5 | 1 |
| Italian neighborhoods | 51 | 39 | 10 |
| Slavic neighborhoods | 65 | 24 | 11 |
| Jewish neighborhoods | 81 | 17 | 2 |
| Unionized neighborhoods | 61 | 29 | 10 |
Source:Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report. "Group Analysis of the 1968 Presidential Vote" XXVI, No. 48 (November 1968), p. 3218.
| NBC sample precincts 1968 election: South only | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| % Humphrey | % Nixon | % Wallace | |
| Middle income urban neighborhoods | 28 | 40 | 32 |
| Low income urban neighborhoods | 57 | 18 | 25 |
| Rural (all income) | 29 | 30 | 41 |
| African-American neighborhoods | 95 | 3 | 2 |
| Hispanic neighborhoods | 92 | 7 | 1 |
Source:Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report. "Group Analysis of the 1968 Presidential Vote", XXVI, No. 48 (November 1968), p. 3218.
Out of the entire population, the Census Bureau in October 1968 estimated that 121.5 million people would be eligible to vote, including those in the military regardless of whether they were serving domestically or abroad. When including the civilian and military population, which were residing in the United States, it was estimated to be 120 million people. With the civilian population, it was estimated to be 118.5 million people would be eligible to vote.[134]
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)38thVice President of the United States (1965–1969) •U.S. Senator from Minnesota (1949–1964, 1971–1978) | |||||||
| Political career | |||||||
| Electoral history |
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| Legacy | |||||||
| Family and personal life |
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